


What Would You Do?

by grimmfairy



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Abused Stiles Stilinski, Angry Derek, Asshole Jackson, Crying Stiles, First Dates, First Kiss, First Meetings, M/M, Nice Jackson, Protective Derek, Reality TV, Surprised Derek when the cameras come out, What would you do, but not really, he's acting, it's fake, part of a tv show, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-28
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-11 19:55:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4450148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimmfairy/pseuds/grimmfairy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Domestic abuse: everybody knows the story of the battered girlfriend, the beaten wife, the scared child. Not long ago, we conducted a social experiment to see what strangers in a cafe would do when confronted with a battered woman being harassed by her abusive boyfriend. The responses were incredible, showing compassion, bravery, and even common ground. However, a lesser known issue of domestic abuse involves yet another controversial topic: male domestic abuse victims with male abusers.</p><p>Today we have Stiles, an actor, playing the part of Sam, a homosexual young man meeting his boyfriend in this public mall food court. His face is bruised, and his body language screams fear. This is Jackson, another actor, playing Stiles's abusive boyfriend. When these two meet, what will strangers around them do? Will they stand up for Stiles like the strangers in our last experiment stood up for the women, or will they turn a blind eye?</p><p>Watch and find out! This is What Would You Do?.</p><p>The WWYD that no one asked for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Food Court

_Domestic abuse: everybody knows the story of the battered girlfriend, the beaten wife, the scared child. Not long ago, we conducted a social experiment to see what strangers in a cafe would do when confronted with a battered woman being harassed by her abusive boyfriend. The responses were incredible, showing compassion, bravery, and even common ground. However, a lesser known issue of domestic abuse involves yet another controversial topic: male domestic abuse victims with male abusers._

_Today we have Stiles, an actor, playing the part of Sam, a homosexual young man meeting his boyfriend in this public mall food court. His face is bruised, and his body language screams fear. This is Jackson, another actor, playing Stiles's abusive boyfriend. When these two meet, what will strangers around them do? Will they stand up for Stiles like the strangers in our last experiment stood up for the women, or will they turn a blind eye?_

_Watch and find out! This is What Would You Do?._

* * *

_It's late afternoon here at the food court. This is our last run of the scenario, and so far no one has stood up for our young victim. Many pretend not even see Jackson verbally abusing and insulting Stiles, telling him he's stupid and worthless. One woman rolled her eyes at Stiles when he was left crying all alone when Jackson stormed off. A few people seemed disturbed when the abuse turned more physical, but still no one has spoken out. One man even commented to us that our actor must be mentally challenged if he let himself be hurt. Stiles had this to say._

_"It's been...it's been really surprising for me, actually. I thought for sure that at least one person would stand up for me, or at least try to talk to me when I was alone. I just...it's been hard to sit there and imagine someone else going through for real. There's no where to turn since many states don't have laws that legally define domestic abuse between two domestic partners of the same sex, and even in states that do, the stigma of being an abused male is staggering."_

_Jackson also was having a hard time as the day progressed._

_"Stiles and I are old friends from high school, so it's been hard to be so...cruel to him, and make it real, without cracking. i want to turn around and just yell at these people. What is wrong with you? I'm hurting this guy right in front of you, he's crying and bruised and everything about him is screaming for help. If he was a girl, I would like to think that someone would help. But...I don't know. I just don't know. I can't keep doing this much longer though."_

_After a long day of disappointing and sometimes disturbing reactions of the surrounding shoppers,  we would have never expected the reaction we got during this last run._

* * *

Derek was in a bad mood. His sisters would say he was always in a bad mood, but today was particularly bad. He hated going to the mall. Everything from the too-warm air to the too-bright lights to the too-loud chattering of mall-goers was grating on his nerves immensely, but the backlash of not having a "real gift" for his mother on her birthday was well worth the misery of the mall. Maybe.

Three hours into his shopping and without a gift, Derek gave in to his growling stomach. He figured maybe he would be able to shop better if he wasn't so hungry and the last saleswoman he talked to had made it very clear that his attitude was not appreciated. As he waited in line for his over-priced pizza and diet coke, he noticed out of the corner of his eyes a young man, barely twenty one at the most, hunched over his table near the center of the room. His hood is pulled up and his body is hunched and small, but when he looks up and makes brief eye contact with Derek for a brief second Derek notices two things: he has the most intriguing brown eyes, and one of those eyes is ringed by a fresh shiner. Derek takes his food and sits at a table near the young man and watches him out of the corner of his eye while eating. The sleeve of his hoodie has been pushed back slightly and bruises in the shape of fingers are visible at his wrist. Derek feels a strange stirring in his chest: rage. He hates abusers.

Kate Argent had abused him. She was his tutor, his babysitter, his tormentor, and his parents' friend's daughter. It had taken a lot of therapy for him to admit to himself that what Kate had done do him and with him was emotional abuse. She had broken his self-esteem down little by little until one day Derek snapped and his family had found him teetering on the edge of a darkness that had grown inside of him.

Derek snapped out his memories at the sight of a muscular blonde man striding up to the table. Derek already dislikes him and his swagger.

"Did you order yet?" The blonde man scowled at his date as he sat down. The boy in front of him shook his head.

"I didn't know-"

"You're useless Sam, you know that? Completely useless," The man sneered, causing his companion to try and apologize. "Shut up! Go order something!"

Derek's teeth ground together. He had promised his sisters he would work on his socializing, and he didn't think punching a guy in the food court would go down very well. He concentrated on breathing in and out slowly to calm himself down until a voice filtered in. Derek realized that the asshole was talking to him.

"Can you believe him? I asked him to do one thing!"

"Don't talk to me," Derek growled. So much for being social. Of course the one person trying talk to him was an abusive boyfriend. Great. The guy held up his hands in surrender and turned back around when Sam returned with burgers and fries. 

* * *

_So far no one has stood up for our abused actor, just like the other runs of our scenario. However, the man at this table is visibly uncomfortable with what he's seeing and he turns away our actor when he tries to engage him. Let's see what happens when we tell Jackson to ramp up the abuse. How will people react?_

* * *

"Jackson, I got you a cheeseburger," Sam set the food down and sat. Jackson stared down at it like it was poison.

"What is this? I don't want this! Can't you do anything?!" He shoved it away, and Sam recoiled as if expecting a slap as his eyes filled with tears.

"I'm sorry! I thought-" Sam yelped as Jackson grabbed his wrist. "You're hurting me!"

"Shut up! Stop crying!" Jackson all but yelled. People were watching now and Derek was on the edge of his seat.

"Stop it! People are watching us," Stiles cried. Jackson grabbed his soda and threw it on Stiles.

"I'll give you something to cry about. There better be something worth eating on this table when I get back," Jackson snapped, throwing Sam's hand away from himself. Sam whimpered and broke down as his boyfriend walked away. Derek looked around to see if anyone was going to help the boy. One man was looking at him with disgust, and a group of teenage girls was giggling. Sam put his head down on the table and cried after trying to dry himself off with a few wimpy napkins, soft sobs that made something protective grow in Derek. He had had a shit day, and apparently so had this boy. After a few minutes of the boy crying alone and no one helping him, Derek saw a man snap a photo of him. That was it. 

"Hey, do you need to go somewhere?" Derek called. Sam looked up, covered in orange soda and sniffling. "Where do you need to go?"

* * *

 

_Our lone man has made contact with our actor, the first of the day. He offered him a ride, but will he confront Jackson? Or will he leave?_

* * *

 

"I can't go, he'll get mad," Sam whispered. Derek sighed and stood, his own food forgotten as he walked over to Sam and helped him dry off as much as possible. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Derek replied as he wiped up the last of the soda from the table and floor, anger carefully in check. "Seriously, do you want to leave? I can call you cab and you can just go. I'll drive you if you want."

"But-"

"Please. I can take you anywhere you need to go. Home, a shelter, anywhere," Sam searched Derek's eyes and then nodded. Derek saw Jackson coming back and moved so his body was shielding Sam more. His mom would understand if she had to get her gift late. "Let's go, grab your stuff."

"Hey, what are you doing?" Sam flinched back from Jackson's voice and made to sit back down when Derek stopped him with gentle hands that didn't match the fury he was radiating.

"Don't talk to him," Derek replied levelly. "He's coming with me."

"No he isn't, he's my boyfriend, this is between us," Jackson made to get behind Derek to Sam. Derek blocked him easily.

"You made it everyone's business when you made a scene and made him cry. Now he's leaving," Derek grabbed Sam and pulled him into his side when Jackson reached again for him, wrapping a large hand around Stiles's wrist. Soda soaked into his henley from the boys shirt, but it was the least of his worries. Derek pried the too-tight grip off. "Let him go!"

"Don't do this! You're my boyfriend, not his!"

"Let go! We're leaving!" Derek finally freed his charge, now clinging desperately to him, and started to move towards the main part of the mall. "Touch him again and I'll call the cops!"

"I love you! Don't go!" Jackson yelled, following them.

"You don't hit the people you love!" Derek shouted, whirling on him. All of his repressed anger and the stress of the day collided and poured out. "You protect the ones you love, you don't make them feel like nothing in front of strangers! You don't hurt them! If you love someone, you show it!"

* * *

_A strong reaction from a strong man. We decided to break the scene before Jackson found himself in the hospital. Let's see what our hero has to say about his reaction._

* * *

 

 

Jackson took a step back and raised his hands in surrender.

Suddenly cameras were in his face and a man was shaking his hand. All he managed to latch on to was-

"This is a show, What Would You do? They're actors," The man was saying. "I'm sorry we upset you so. What made you speak up?"

Derek was silent for a minute, conscious of the fact that Sam was still clinging to his side getting him sticky with soda.

"I just...Some stuff happened to me...and I couldn't just...He needed help and that was enough," Derek finally said.  The young man released him finally and turned to him.

"My name is actually Stiles. And you should know that during the whole day you're the only person that's stood up for me," Stiles hugged his would-be savior tightly again. "Thank you!"

"Um...sure," Derek blushed. Jackson approached him. "I was ready to punch you."

"I know, I know, but I swear I'm not that person," Jackson shook Derek's hand tightly. "I'm Stiles's friend, and my name actually _is_ Jackson."

"You're a hero," The man said. John-something. 

"No, I'm not. I'm just a guy trying to buy a gift for his mother. Right place at the right time."

* * *

_And there you have it. After a disappointing day, twenty-eight year old Derek Hale has proven to us that even when it seems like no one will stand up, it only takes one person to safe a life. Remember._

_What would you do?_

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

"So. Derek. Derek Hale," Stiles said, fingers dancing restlessly against the porcelain of the mug he was holding. "I thought your name sounded familiar. I mean, not right away when the cameras were rolling and stuff. Adrenaline and all that. But then when I was going over the release papers so we could use the footage I saw your name in writing and it made me think, huh, I've seen that name before and then it hit me: you're from Beacon Hills too. You're the guy that almost ran me over with his car when I was eight because he was learning how to drive."

Derek chuckled even as he blushed. 

"I haven't thought about that in years. Your dad scared the shit out of me. I cried when he threatened to take away my driver's permit," Derek leaned back in his chair and observed Stiles more closely. He hadn't recognized the twenty-one-year-old in front of him at the mall that day one month ago. He hadn't seen the Stilinski boy since he was small child and his mother had dragged him by the ear to the Stilinski house to apologize for almost hitting the kid while joyriding with Cora. He hadn't even known he took on the nickname.

"I know, I remember. You look so different though. You're all muscled and tan and stubbly," Stiles seemed to realize what he was saying and clapped his mouth shut to stop more embarrassing words from spilling out.

"Believe me, no one was more surprised than I was when I got your call at my parents' house. I don't even want to know why you know"

Derek and Stiles sat in companionable silence for awhile, enjoying their coffee and the company of each other. Stiles had called Derek out of the blue a few weeks after he had signed the papers to let the station use his footage to ask him out for coffee in their hometown which, surprise surprise, was Beacon Hills. Where Stiles was visiting his father at the same time he happened to be visiting his parents at the Hale family home. Derek had been in the middle of avoiding his siblings' questions about his love life when his mom handed him his cellphone and told him the Sheriff's son was calling.

"Tell me something. As much as I'm enjoying the coffee, why did you want to meet?" Derek asked after a few minutes. Stiles put down his mug and fidgeted with his paper napkin nervously. "What is it?"

"I just...I wanted to apologize for putting you in that position. You know...now that I know your, um, history," Stiles's napkin was in shreds. "I'm sorry if we-"

"Stiles, it's fine. It was actually kind of..." Derek searched for the right word. "Cathartic."

A waiter came to their table and set their food down in front of them. Eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns for Stiles. An egg white omelette with spinach for Derek with a healthy portion of sausage on the side. She flirted with Derek and ignored the town spaz as everyone else in town did. Derek politely responded and then returned his attention to his companion. Stiles felt old emotions rising to the surface, as well as word vomit.

"I had the biggest crush on you all through high school!" Stiles blurted when the waitress walked away, then slapped his hand over his mouth only to remove it just as quickly. "I'm so sorry! I have no idea where that came from. I babble when I get nervous. Did I mention that? I feel like maybe I did. I don't know."

"How did-I was in college by the time you were in high school and I never saw you. Where did you even-How?" Derek started laughing as Stiles described how he fell in love with the pictures of the hot lacrosse player, and the hunky football player, and especially the shirtless swimmer. Derek was great at sports, okay? Derek was giggling like a teenager by the time Stiles puttered to a stop. Stiles started laughing too.

"Oh my god, I feel like I'm in a movie or something," He reached for the salt at the same time as Derek. Their fingers brushed and they both paused, Derek's large hand on top of Stiles's thin fingers. "Derek I'm really sorry about what happened with her. I wish I could have been there for you."

Derek retracted his hand and met Stiles's eyes. Stiles looked so sincere and open, so different than most people when they inevitably brought up his old tutor. Half the town had taken her side despite the evidence. 

"You were so young though. You couldn't have known," Derek soothed gently. He wanted to move on to a different subject.

"I'm not that young anymore. And I'm legal too..." Stiles failed at being subtle and Derek laughed again, the awkward tension melting away. "Besides, you're like...my personal knight in shining armor and your sister told me you were single."

"I knew it! Cora looked way too pleased with herself when i left the house!" Derek wanted to feel the usual anger at his sister for meddling in his life. Again. But he couldn't quite bring himself to do it. "That's how you got my phone number."

"Actually, your mom gave me your phone number. Your sister encouraged me after I still hadn't called you for a week," Stiles grinned at Derek's groan. "I didn't want to push you but she threatened my manhood."

"Of course she did," Derek rolled his eyes. Then an idea popped into his head. "My parents and sisters are out for the day visiting Laura and her husband and I am just realizing they want me to bring you home oh my god I am going to get revenge on them so hard!" Derek dropped his head into his hands.

Stiles blushed deeply and gulped nervously.

"Well, I might be able to help you with that."

**Author's Note:**

> Second chapter is off camera. First date yay!


End file.
